re: Ann: Washpool Hard Coking Coal Project - ... I wonder where...

re: Ann: Washpool Hard Coking Coal Project - ... I wonder where these figures are coming from. Is it just what they what they are anticipating or have the external valuations actually come back in?

Sounds like they might have them? I wonder if the discussions are - do we split the difference and agree to something like $260M or does the 3rd (and final) valuation get done, which both parties are locked in to agreeing to the price. But it could come out as anything...

Here is that story:

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/vale_dj-vale-aquila-set-for-showdown-on-australian-coal-project-report-1101609.html

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 10, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --
Mining companies Vale SA ( VALE | PowerRating, VALE5.BR) and Aquila Resources Ltd. (AQA.AU) are set for a showdown later this week when they meet to discuss the value of a stake in an Australian coal-mine project, Australian Financial Review reported Tuesday.

Vale exercised an option to buy Aquila's former 24.5% stake in the Belvedere coking-coal project, which has increased in value since the option was taken, the Review said. Aquila valued the stake at $350 million while Vale put its value at between $143 million to $237 million, the Review said.

Vale and Aquila are joint-venture partners in Australia's Eagle Downs coking-coal project and also disagree on the logistics route for shipping coal from this project. Vale favors shipment via Dalrymple Bay port, where Eagle Downs may gain access only in 2017, while Aquila prefers to ship via Abbott Point, according to the Review.

Spokesmen at Vale's Rio de Janeiro headquarters had no immediate comment on the report when contacted by Dow Jones Newswires.

Vale's global coal manager, Decio Amaral, was cited by the Australian press earlier on Tuesday as saying that the Brazilian mining company plans to boost its Australian coal production by a third in 2011 as part of a bid to eventually become the world's third-biggest coal market player, after BHP Billiton PLC (BHP.LN) and Anglo American Plc (AAL.LN).

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Vale's global coal output will jump 52% in 2011 to 15 million metric tons, of which 9.4 million tons will be produced in Australia.

-By Diana Kinch, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-21-2586-6086; [email protected]